Palmerston said with a half-smile, "But if we don't use force... will it work to use the soft approach? You and I both know what kind of person Dalhousie is. He resigned from the Minister of Seal position initially because he felt the entire Cabinet was stifling his political ideals."
Russell raised his hand to signal Palmerston to stop there: "It's precisely because he's holding back his anger that we can't let him feel he's being manipulated. If he's provoked, the Radical Party might take it as us declaring war on them. Don't even mention getting him back to Canada; it would take just a few days for them to cause trouble in the Lower House."
Rice, eager to address the fiscal deficit, nodded in agreement: "Yes. We need to win over the Radicals' stance, rather than pushing them into the Conservative Party's arms."
